05 Jul 2018

Assistant Minister of Youth Empowerment, Sport and Culture Development, Dikgang Makgalemele says sport industry assists government in alleviating unemployment through job creation.

Makgalemele said this at the launch of Mmathethe Sports Festival scheduled for the coming President’s Day holidays on July 4. 

“Sport tourism is alive and contributes immensely to the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDO),” he said.

As government, he said they embraced initiatives geared towards sport development in Botswana for the good of the citizens. He indicated that sport had a big unifying factor the world as a whole, noting that would be witnessed when 15 villages compete at Mmathethe Sports Festival.

He said families would get to meet each other; winners would celebrate their achievements and successes while bringing joy to their respective communities. Also, he noted that small businesses would sell their products to improve their livelihoods.

Such activities, Makgalemele said helped in unearthing new talent, adding that young people were endowed with so much talent. He also implored all stakeholders to scout, foster and develop such talents. Giving an overview of the event, the organiser, Marshlow Motlogelwa said they started in 2015 as Mmathethe Sport Challenge with only football and just seven villages with a budget of P10 000. 

Motlogelwa said as the event grew they introduced other sporting codes such as netball and marathon. 

This year, Motlogelwa indicated that the event had grown with the inclusion of cycling and pool/snooker in the existing codes. He said they would have 16 football teams and netball and five participants in pool/snooker game from each village.

He noted that they had business community supporting the event and the community leadership.

With a budget of P125 000 from 18 sponsors, Motlogelwa said they were certain that the growth of the event, would attract more sponsors. The tournament’s objective is to promote unity among communities and expose new raw talent from participating villages. ENDS